Rumble

Arts Center PR Plan

April 28

2011
Alyssa Benton Evan Fazio Annie Gudorf Terrance Hill Mishawn Ring

Communication plan for Rumble Arts Center; detailing the public relations and marketing tactics to be utilized with the intention of increasing brand awareness and ultimately participants and revenues.

Situation Analysis
About Rumble Arts Center (RAC) Rumble Arts Center is a small 501(c)3 nonprofit located in Humboldt Park. The center has three paid staff members, but is supported primarily by the help of numerous volunteers. The center opened in 2008 by Brook Woolf. Woolf is an art enthusiast. She attended art school for seven years and is following her passions and sharing her knowledge of art with the Humboldt Park community. Services/Programs Rumble Arts Center provides a variety of donation-based programs to people of all ages and cultures. Some of the programs include classes on art, music, dance, yoga, martial arts, writing, and performance. By offering educational and experiential opportunities fit for all ages, the center actively cultivates an environment in which whole families can congregate to learn, teach, and play together. The large assortment of classes is also intended to unite people with similar interests within the community. It is through this exchange of knowledge, creativity and unity that Rumble Arts Center is able to give people a place to create and pursue common goals. Rumble Arts Center not only educates people about creative endeavors, but also works to actively foster community. RAC offers local organizations three reasonably priced spaces to rent. Many other creative-based nonprofits rely on this space to house their events, parties, galleries, etc. RAC partners with these nonprofits in an effort to expand the communitys knowledge of the arts and increase their involvement in the community. Who does Rumble Arts Center serve? Rumble Arts Center primarily serves the Humboldt Park community. The center focuses heavily on generating traffic from the community, targeting families and providing services for people of all ages. However, Rumble Arts Center is open to the general public and also looks to serve neighboring Chicago communities and Chicagoland areas. Rumble Arts Center also serves local nonprofits and businesses. By allowing other nonprofits to use RACs space, when available, and by renting three of the spaces within the center, RAC helps drive community endeavors, create awareness for the center and foster strong relationships within its network.

Current Communication Channels

The center currently uses these modes of communication to promote its classes and events: Posting fliers throughout the neighborhood Facebook YouTube Community online calendar postings Canvassing Posting centers profile on online rental space sites Rumble Arts Center website

Rumble Arts Center needs to continue to use these modes of communication, but can better utilize these modes of communication and begin using new communication channels as well. This PR campaign will work with Rumble Arts to do just that.

Previous Media Coverage/Publicity

PR Needs and Opportunities: The Rumble Arts Centers primary PR need is to increase the promotion of its classes in order to raise awareness and increase class attendance. Donations collected in class should count for a larger portion of RACs income than it currently does. RAC currently gets 80 percent of its funding from a supporting local business. The center is not selfsustainable. In order for the center to flourish, it must become self-sustainable. The best way for RAC to accomplish this is to earn more donations from its classes. Rumble Arts Center also struggles to maintain a consistent attendance in its programs. Effective promotion of its classes, including more specified highlights of new or innovative classes, to its immediate community is a critical opportunity for the center. Another major PR need for RAC is to increase the promotion of its rental spaces. Rentals have the possibility to earn the center a large portion of its income. Increasing rental patrons would drastically help the center become self-sustainable. Currently the center lacks many rental patrons, creating a great opportunity for the center. Creating materials and an effective PR strategy for RAC to promote its rental space will give RAC the tools it needs to better promote its space, which in return will increase the centers amount of rental patrons. Rumble Arts Center would like to improve the space rental page on its website. This also provides an opportunity for the center. The center offers three quality, large spaces for renters, but struggles to relay this to prospective renters based on the information and pictures displayed on the website. Better informing potential renters through listing rental prices, updating and offering additional pictures of the available spaces, and allowing

people the option to secure spaces online will benefit efforts to increase Rumble Arts Centers number of renters.

General Objectives
1. Host an open house/space showcase with at least 90 attendees on Saturday, March 26, 2011 This is our main objective because it addresses the prominent need of the organization: a. Increased awareness of available rental space b. Exposure to new participants. This event will last from 1 p.m. 5 p.m. It will be an event that is geared towards families and community outreach. It is intended to increase potential participants and educate community members on the benefits and opportunities available to them through the center. 2. Create a reusable procedure and methods for increasing use of April 15, 2011 We will deliver them: Checklist of steps to properly promote RACs space A written and recorded PSA specifically for promoting RACs rental space Contact list of local event planners Contact list of possible renters Phone pitch that is focused on calling possible renters to inform them about RACs space Space showcase invitation packet will be used when RAC decides to host an open house exclusively for possible rental patrons and event planners to show off its space rental space by

RAC currently does not promote its rental space and does not have the materials to do so. Our team will work to give RAC everything that they will need to promote its space after our time is up. RAC will be able to use these materials to increase the amount of income that the center earns from rentals. 3. Strengthen and intensify the Rumble Arts brand by April 15, 2011 This will help Rumble Arts connect with its target audience, relevant media outlets, and current and potential business partners We plan to develop RAC materials that will help integrate its message across all media channels. We primarily plan to do this through the development of a new slogan for RAC. The use of the new slogan will help RACs message stay consistent in the publics mind.
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Target Publics
Primary Target Public: Humboldt Park community members Keeping in alignment with Rumble Arts Centers community focus, RAC needs to increase awareness amongst community members; therefore, potentially increasing enrollment and visitation to Rumble Arts Center. Humboldt Park Community Demographics: Total Population: 98, 769 Female: 51.7% Male: 48.3% Median Age: 25.4 Dominant Ethnicity: 67.7% Hispanic or Latino Secondary Target Public: Local businesses, the Humboldt Park community Rumble Arts Centers focus is community-based. Partnering with local businesses and working with the community as a whole is Rumble Arts main initiative. Currently, RAC Partners with local businesses, such as: Youth Service Project YMCA La Casa Norte Community Counseling Center Union League Boys & Girls Club Caf Colao New Life Caf Chicago Public Library Bucktown-Wicker Park Library Borinquen Restaurant Papas Cache Sabroso Treat Caf Knockbox Flying Saucer Maiz Cosmopolitan Nellies

These businesses will serve as the basis for RACs secondary target public. Maintaining and improving relationships with these companies is important, and partnering with them will be beneficial in achieving the goals that are outlined in this plan.

Implementation strategy
Message: Rumble Arts Center, your community stomping ground.
This message illustrates the different aspects of Rumble Arts Center. The two-fold operation of Rumble Arts Center is to (1) provide donation-based multicultural arts classes to the community and (2) support the former operation by renting its space during off-peak hours. This message appeals to the positive connotations of the word community and evokes the images of family. In addition, the phrase stomping ground alludes to the organizations name (Rumble Arts) and logo (the Elephant). Finally, the phrase stomping ground inspires the feeling of a familiar place to which the intended targets could imagine themselves returning frequently, yet is also light and playful. Accordingly, the implied message is: Everyone should feel welcome to use this space and personalize it with his or her dreams and goals, whether as an event, family, or leaning space.

Media/Communication Channels
Newspapers: RAC should begin to utilize the RedEye. The center should look to approach the RedEye with a story about the beginning of each new class session sporadically (i.e. spring session, summer session, etc.) and aim for three to four times per year, with two insertions during the selected week. This can be done through public relations tactics, such as news releases, calendar events, and/or media alerts. The RedEye is a credible source among Chicagoans and reaches a vast and diverse audience, through its free and expansive distribution throughout the city. The RedEye reaches RACs target public, along with possible untapped segments. Due to the lower financial standings of the majority of the community, it is likely that RACs target public would gravitate more towards a free publication, such as the RedEye, versus a paid publication, such as the Chicago Tribune or Sun Times, for their news.

RAC will also pitch similar stories to the local/community newspapers that are listed in its updated media list. Magazines: Rumble Arts Center will not spend much time working to get publicized in magazines. Magazines, even small publications, are too costly and the center currently does not have the means in its budget to support advertising in magazines. Hopefully, as the center expands, it will be able to include magazines as a part of its media outreach plan. However, if public relations tactics can be employed, a feature story in a local arts publication would be an ideal avenue for increased exposure for Rumble Arts Center. Newsletters: Rumble Arts Center does not currently publish a newsletter; however, this would be a beneficial way to communicate with current and potential patrons of the center. Our team, The Savvy Stompers, suggest that the center produce a quarterly newsletter that summarizes any past events and discusses new and upcoming opportunities. The newsletter should speak to both target publics: the Humboldt Park community and local businesses, allowing Rumble Arts Center to inform, connect and intrigue its main publics on a regular basis. Our team understands that producing a newsletter requires time and energy that the staff may not currently have; so, we suggest that the center introduce a new class, centered on creating the newsletter. Attendees could develop the layout, edit the content and choose pictures to include in the newsletter. The newsletter would be distributed via email, along with copies available in the center and in local businesses.

If creating and implementing a personal newsletter for Rumble Arts Center is not a plausible endeavor, we suggest that the center consider partnering with a local organization, such as a church, school, or local business that already has a standing newsletter and ask the organization to put a RAC blurb in each edition that goes out. Television: In regards to television exposure, RAC hopes to feature Brook Woolf or another staff member on a local news program. In the past, the center has had the chance to be featured on select news shows, and RAC hopes to be able to get the center featured again. One way to help get RAC featured will be by making videos or taking photographs of the classes, programs, and events that occur at the center and including them with the media alerts and press releases that get sent out. Including them would be a great way to increase exposure and awareness of the center, which may potentially lead to airtime. RAC should also pitch to morning news shows about having the centers students come on the show and perform for the audience. RAC offers very unique classes, which would give RAC an advantage when pitching to a Chicago news station. Radio: As with television, our team has gathered many local news talk-show hosts contacts, and hopes to get a Rumble Arts Center staff member featured on one of the programs. The goal of this is to get Brooks story out there and broaden awareness of the center. Our team will also send out PSAs to radio stations to be played. Website: The Rumble Arts Centers website is aesthetically appealing, but can be functionally improved. It is suggested that in order to improve RACs website, it must become more interactive. This can be accomplished by adding new photos, videos, newsletter subscription tab, other art resources, class schedules, etc. A RAC group member will assist the Savvy Stompers with these additions. Overtime, RAC will add the following features to its website. Our team will help provide RAC with the materials it needs to easily add these features to its website. Standardized application for renting An aggregated calculator for the price of renting. Space-availability calendar Additional pictures of the space (i.e. a virtual tour, videos, etc.) Quarterly newsletter (if RAC decides to begin developing one)

There are various outside websites that Rumble Arts Center already utilizes to link visitors back to the Rumble Arts Centers website and many that RAC will continue to explore. These include local Chicago art blogs, the Humboldt Park community page, and social events calendars for Chicago. These sites will ultimately increase Rumble Arts Centers

visibility in Chicago, specifically among the Humboldt Park community arts scene. They will also encourage artists, families, and event planners to fully recognize the potential of Rumble Arts Center. Social Media: The use of social media would result in an increase in visibility that could assist Rumble Arts Center in reaching untapped publics and increasing its brand stance within its current targets. The social media tools that RAC will utilize by the end of this project are Foursquare, Facebook and YouTube. The ultimate goal for Rumble Arts use of social media is to increase its presence online. These tools will help accomplish this goal with no costs to RAC. Foursquare The use of Foursquare will allow people to check-in at the center and possibly receive a discount on classes for doing so. This way people will be able to see who of their friends has also been or is going to the center. Ultimately, RAC would like to aggregate enough check-ins on Foursquare to become a trending place. To implement this Rumble Arts Center needs to be made into a check-in place on Foursquare, which our team will do. The staff/volunteers and the class teachers can leave tips about specific classes, and can also shout when they check-in at a certain class.

Facebook Rumble Arts Center currently has a Facebook page, but the page does not display the most up-to-date news. Our team will work with the centers staff to help update the fan page by adding pictures and information about Spring Into Rumble and other current news. Our team also wants to educate the staff members about the best ways to utilize the Facebook page, so that RACs page can gain more fans and be more visible on Facebook.

YouTube The center already uses YouTube, but not to its full potential. Our team plans to help RAC with utilizing YouTube in a more efficient way. We will work with the RAC staff to update the Rumble Arts Center channel. YouTube presents Rumble Arts Center with an opportunity to gain visibility, along with a forum to showcase the talents of its artists and performers. The center currently posts videos of select performances, but needs to increase the amount of postings and variety of postings, including not only performances, but also class sessions, class teach spotlights, video tours of the center, and events.

Currently, Rumble Arts Center does not utilize Twitter, due to the lack of manpower available. Our team recognizes that RAC has a limited staff and volunteer base that can devote their time to social media. That is why our team suggests when does have more staff/volunteers that the center begin using a Twitter account. Our team has considered creating an account for them, but once we left there would be no one to hand it off to. Twitter is a tool that RAC could utilize to better connect with its target publics and with many local businesses in the Humboldt Park community. Once RAC is able to develop a Twitter, it will help the center establish a conversation between the center and its publics. Our team strongly recommends RAC to take advantage of Twitter once it is possible. Twitter Through twitter, RAC will be able to post pictures, daily tweets about the classes, and reminders about events. Our team will develop a standardized list of tweet ideas for the staff to use after, once the center decides it is the right time to develop a Twitter. Pictures, videos and links to the Rumble Arts Centers website can also be communicated through Twitter.

To make utilizing social media more efficient and easier, we recommend that RAC start using Hootsuite or a similar site. Our team will leave it up to RAC to decide whether to implement use of the site or of a similar one. Hootsuite (or similar linked website) A website, such as Hootsuite, that links other social media websites would help to streamline Rumble Arts Centers social media endeavors. Updating of all social media tactics (i.e. Facebook page, Twitter page, etc.) could be monitored through one website.

Direct Mail: Rumble Arts Center will use direct mail to invite businesses and event planners to its event that it hopes to hold sometime in May to showcase RACs space to possible renters. We will create and deliver a direct mail piece that will include an invitation to the event, a letter from Brook, an informational brochure, and a class schedule with descriptions. This packet is designed to spark interest in RACs space and the event that RAC will be hosting to showcase its space to its possible renters. Our team will assist with developing this packet so it is readily available when RAC needs to send it out. Posters/Fliers: Rumble Arts Center currently uses posters and fliers to promote its classes and current events. RAC will continue to use this tactic to promote its upcoming event, Spring Into Rumble. Our team will assist RAC in blanketing the surrounding neighborhoods with fliers and posters prior to the beginning of Spring Into Rumble. Fliers will also be passed out during the event to help draw people in.

Creative Tactics
We will develop creative approaches or persuasive tactics to catch the attention and engage our target publics. These actions will be interactive and involve target publics in some activity or event that increases their understanding and commitment and will move them toward action. Business directories: o Put information about RAC in places where its target publics are looking o Getting listed in professional directories is usually free and all that is required is a little time to fill out a form. Telephone marketing: o Develop phone pitch to call local schools, daycares, local businesses, etc. to create interest in Spring Into Rumble. o Research shows that 51 percent of people will listen to telemarketers. o Telephone marketing will help RAC further its relationships with other community members and businesses. Window display: o RAC has a large front window that is perfect for either displaying artwork that is created in its classes by students or for creating a display to promote Spring Into Rumble. o The goal is to make RACs window serve as a tool to create interest and invite people inside. o Change window display regularly to keep people interested on what will be displayed next. Community Calendar Postings o To promote RAC classes and Spring Into Rumble, our team will assist RAC with posting on online community calendars to enhance reach. Spring Into Rumble o RAC will be hosting an open house on March 26 from 1:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. o The Event will preview RACs spring class sessions and to invite the community to see the recent renovations that have been done to the space. o Music, art, martial arts demonstrations, music studio tours, and more will be going on throughout the day o Food will be donated by Food Not Bombs and Knockbox Caf

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Proposed Events/Activities
Timetable
February Research and Planning
1/31 2/07: Gather information about previous communication efforts and previously used communication channels 2/07 2/14: Determine needs and opportunities presented by RAC and begin to plan 2/14 2/21: Collaborate with RAC staff to formalize plan and synthesize research on potential event guests and media contacts 2/21 2/28: Draft key messages and modes of communication (Press Releases, Media Lists, Media Kits, etc.) and prepare to contact media contacts and local businesses/event planners

March Implementation
2/28 3/07: Post fliers throughout Humboldt Park neighborhood and deliver informational pamphlets to local businesses, schools, YMCAs, etc. 3/07 3/14: Assist Rumble Arts in event planning 3/21 3/25: Make phone pitches to local schools, daycares, YMCAs, etc. for Spring Into Rumble and finish preparation for Spring Into Rumble 3/26: Open House / Gallery Showcase Event 3/28 4/04: Contact media contacts with follow-up press releases and pitch letters

April Evaluation
4/04 4/11: Evaluate and finish PR Plan outline 4/11 4/18: Convert PR Plan Outline and related documents into reusable procedures and methods

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Budget
Total Budget $150
Because Rumble Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) organization with limited resources, we propose a plan with a limited budget. All of our tactics can be executed without financial backing except for direct mail. As such, we submit this budget: Expenses Printing Potential Renter Packets: $40.00 Distribution of Potential Renter Packets (postage, envelopes): $60.00 Miscellaneous Expenses: $50.00 Possible Donations Packet Materials (paper, envelopes, etc.) already owned by Rumble Arts

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Monitoring/Evaluating Objectives
Objective 1:
Host an open house/space showcase with at least 90 attendees on March 26, 2011 Ways to measure related results: Create a sign-in sheet for the event that asks for the guests name, contact information, and reason for attending. Count number of attendees on sign in sheet.

Objective 2:
Create a reusable procedure and methods for increasing use of rental space by April 15, 2011 Ways to measure related results: If materials are delivered to RAC, then objective will have been met.

Objective 3:

Aid in Campaign Against CashAmerica and get 800 petition signatures opposing the entrance of the CashAmerica pawnshop in the Humboldt Park community by April 15 Ways to measure related results: Count number of signatures on petitions before deadline to see if reach goal. If there are 800 or more signatures, objective was completed.

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